To understand the present invention, one must first understand the use of a mixer and therefore what mixing is through the eyes of an audio engineer. A mixing console, or mixer, is a huge and often expensive tool for mixing various sounds/instruments together so that they can be put into a pleasing balanced composite. The mixing console consists of a table like layout having a series of dials and controls representing channel modules including faders, potentiometers, etc. Sounds may be played in live from the actual instrument, such as a guitar hooked into the mixer directly, or an instrument play live through a microphone hooked into the mixer. As more commonly done in studios, prerecorded sounds are taken off a multi-track tape recorder, such as an ALESIS ADAT, which records each instrument or sound separately on separate tracks that are locked together. These tracks get appropriately sent to individual channels on the mixing console, each controlled by the respective faders. It is the job of the engineer to sit in front of the mixing console, and as he is mixing, slide and/or alter the controls/faders that represent instruments he wishes to accentuate, soften or blend as the music or soundtrack progresses.
Perhaps the most difficult job for an audio engineer is to work with experienced musicians in an environment where music must be played over and over again to record a perfect piece of music in the ears of a musician. The audio engineer may spend hours routing channel assignments and manually activating controls in order to create such a mixing of audio signals. Great time is spent neatly writing and assigning a label to each channel, usually written on one very long strip of tape, which can be quite tedious and annoying to do if numerous musical scores are to be mixed or remixed in one studio session. Also should numerous hand-written labels be placed on the mixing console, it can be very difficult to keep the labels intact and in their proper position. The audio engineer is helped by a stable and neat labeling of channels to avoid problems while mixing which could make the engineer change the wrong channel, fader or other control if the channels are not properly identified.
One of the greatest frustrations to the mixing engineer, and to the studio owner of the beautiful piece of mixing equipment is that there is no sound or instrument channel identification on the mixer. The prior art fails to teach a mixing console having a simple visual identification such as, channel 1 is a bass drum, channel 2 being labeled perhaps as a snare, channel 3 being labeled perhaps tom toms, channel 4 possibly a rhythm guitar, or a bass; channels 5 and 6 sharing one instrument sound for fullness as stereo (ex. STEREO--right and left piano), channel 7 being a glockenspiel, channel 8 a harp, channel 9 being piano fill, channels 10 through 21 might be vocal takes, and so on. There might be channels of harmony tracks in vocals, etc., or full orchestra which would require more tracks, and with choir added, it could go to 128 tracks or more.
Usually, in larger mixers there is enough space above or below the faders to separate the fader or volume control from the series of its controls that stem upwards from it. In this space the engineer usually places a long strip of masking tape, or if there isn't a space broad enough, the engineer may stand papers and cards up against the dials and/or faders. Commonly the tape runs across the whole length of the mixer from left to right above/below the faders or dial controls for each channel of sound. The engineer then writes on this strip with a pen or marker the names of each sound or instrument assigned to each mixer fader/channel, hoping it is neat enough so that the ID tape of sounds and instruments line up visually well enough to avoid errors in his mix due to mistaking a channel/fader sound for the one next to it or another one if the engineer is very careless and sloppy. The masking tape visually identifies the names of the sounds or instruments that will be controlled by adjusting the dials and/or fader in a particular group, row or rows.
In most cases, the name of the piece of music, or soundtrack is also noted somewhere on this strip to identify what piece of music or soundtrack had this particular grouping of instruments on their respective channel assignments. This will vary greatly depending on the piece of music being played.
The engineer, when doing the mix, selectively slides the faders that represent instruments he wishes to accentuate or wishes to soften or blend as the music or soundtrack progresses. The engineer constantly refers to the ID strip or label he has placed on the mixer to remind him where each instrument sound or channel is able to be maneuvered. As he constantly glances at the strip it reminds and guides him during his mixing of instrument sound control. It is not uncommon to have 32 sounds or more on a mixer and therefore 32 faders may have to be moved at various times. For example, a ping of a bell that may want to be emphasized, or a sound of rumbling thunder that may want to be diminished in a spot, or a harp that may be drowned out by the strings and needs a boost in sound, a push up of the fader where angelic sounds may come in will need the engineer to be ready to adjust those sounds exactly at a given moment. The engineer is like a madman of sound, sliding faders and moving control knobs to emphasize and de-emphasize sound on the various mixing channels as the sound is being heard by him, identified on the console and altered by him. Without visual instrument or sound identification, it would be difficult to remember the instrument or sound order for any piece of music. Easy visual identification is essential.
After the mixing is complete, or the first mix is done, then the very long piece of masking tape is stored, often on metal doors or cabinets or on a wall until the piece is ready for another mix. Usually this requires putting many long strips of tape on doors which is not the handiest or most aesthetic thing in a richly laid out studio. If the music piece has to be re-mixed, the masking tape labels must be again laid carefully on the mixer, each ID having to line up with the right fader. It is possible that a new ID strip of masking tape may need to be made and carefully laid on the mixer over the fader channels, lining up each instrument name written on the tape with the appropriate fader alignment if something should happen to the tape in the course of the recording and mixing. Tape not only can be damaging to the mixer console but a great deal of time is wasted in labeling the channels or realigning the labels necessary to mix the musical score, not to mention the wasted valuable studio time. Moreover, after a musical piece is thought to be finished and the tape discarded, sometimes the producer or musician is disturbed by an unpleasing sound or lack of brilliance or volume of some instrument, vocal, or sound or group of any one of these, and a new mix or a re-mix may be required. A new piece of tape must be painstakingly made from the track sheets. Most engineers become annoyed and distracted from the musical flow of things by this necessary task.
Aside from the sheer lack of aesthetics in using tape on a beautiful piece of expensive equipment, the present invention would eliminate the unsightly assault to the body of the mixer, a precious piece of equipment, and more importantly, eliminate a great frustration to the engineer. When more than one sound is recorded, one after the other on the same track, to save tracks since they are limited, their correct ID name displayed could be sequenced as the instruments change to avoid confusion. The programmable ID label will give clear and definite identification for each mixing channel and its instrument assignment chosen by the engineer as for the particular soundtrack or piece written by the composer/arranger. If a re-mix is required at a later date, all the ID labels could be easily recalled from an automated computer. How many instruments or voices to be used will vary and often the placement of instrument positions or assignments to various channels on the mixer will be unique to the engineer and how he groups sound in his mind for the particular musical piece. He must have a coordinated, effective response physically so that he moves his hands over the controls and faders simultaneously with his hearing desires.